The Femme and the Beast
by whiteflower122
Summary: A TFA version of "Beauty and the Beast". When Jena promises to stay forever at Lockdown's castle in exchange for her father's freedom. Can these two opposites put aside there differences and learn to get along and maybe even find love towards each other?
1. Chapter 1

**The Femme and the Beast**

_Once upon a time in a far away land, there lived a royal family that lived in a castle. The young prince that lived there had everything he had ever wanted until one day his world fell apart. His mother had fall under a great illness that had no cure to help her, she died within a week. And his father had left him after his mother died; saying that without her around, the young prince meant nothing to him. _

_Stricken with grief and despiser the prince became spoiled, selfish and unkind. He changed his body completely, misplacing his robot parts with ones that didn't match and also destroyed every picture that had him and his parents in it, not wanting to be reminded of his past. _

_As the stellar cycles went by the prince grew up, but still remained his bitter self. But then one stormy night an old elderly femme came to his castle and offered him a single rose in exchange for shelter from the cold. Disgusted by her appearance, he refused the gift and turned the old femme away. But she warned him not to be misguided by appearances for true beauty lied within. But he still refused to let her stay. So the old femme transformed into a beautiful sorceress, though the prince did try to apologize, it was too late. The sorceress had already seen that there was no love in his spark and therefore casted a powerful curse upon the castle and all who lived in it._

_All of the prince's servants turned into common household appliances while the prince was forbidden to ever leave beyond the forest outside his castle. But he never wanted to leave, he was so ashamed by his appearance, he concealed himself within his castle, with only a magic mirror as his only window to the world beyond the forest. The rose the femme had offered him was truly magical, it would continue to bloom until at least 20,000 stellar cycles went by. If the prince could learn to love someone and earn her love in return by the time the last rose petal fell, the spell would be broken. If not he and his servants would be doomed to stay in castle forever._

_But as he continued on with his life, the prince started to give up hope. For who could ever loved a monster like him? _

…

**Almost 20,000 Stellar Cycles later…**

Beyond the forest were the castle was there was a small village. And in the small town lived a young femme named Jena. She had dark brown metal skin with navy blue armor, bright aquamarine optics with long dark organic-like hair. Now Jena was a bit of an odd femme at least according to the rest of the village. She had no interest in mechs or trying to look beautiful-even though some people had to admit that she was quite beautiful- like other femmes did, instead she liked to read. No matter where she went people always saw her with her face usually buried within a book. Also it never took her very long to read her books it seemed she would always go to the library and get new books or return the ones she had.

And even though Jena loved her town, she found it sort boring. Nothing new or exciting would ever happen, it was always the same thing every single day. She dreamed of someday leaving the village and go out to explore the world, but there was one thing that kept her connect to the village. Her farther, Wheeljack, was a great inventor, but he often had a problem with blowing up some of his experiments. Many of the villagers called him crazy for making such wild contraptions, but Jena would always support him to do his best. She could never leave him along and try to fend for himself.

Currently, Jena was walking home with one book that she had read many times before. It was one of her favorite stories; it was about princess finding her prince charming. How she wished that someday she could find her own prince charming. Unfortunately, there was one mech that claimed was her prince, his name was Sentinel Prime. He was the most obnoxious, self-centered mech she ever met and though there were many other femmes that fawned over him, he only showed interest in her.

And speak of the devil; while she was walking home, he jumped out of nowhere right in front of her.

"Hello, Jena."

"Good morning, Sentinel." Jena kept her tone polite and tried to walk away after that, but the blue mech came up and snatched her book right from under her nose "Sentinel, may I please have my book back?"

He started to flip through some of the pages at the book, only to look at them with confusion "How can you read this? There are barely any pictures."

"Well some bots kind of prefer to use their imaginations."

Sentinel tossed the book lazily away making it land in a mud puddle "Jena, it's about time you get your head out of these stupid book and pay attention to more important things." Jena tried to recover her book, but Sentinel stepped in front of her "Like me."

Jena looked to see a few femmes sighing longily at him, but simply rolled her optics. She picked up her book while Sentinel continued his rant "The whole town talking about it. It not right for a femme to read. Soon she starts getting ideas and starts thinking."

"Wow, Sentinel you are so…generous when you talk about what a femme should be like." Jena said, her voice dripping in sarcasm

"Why thank you, Jena." She rolled her optics again; it was obvious that her sarcasm was lost to him. And yet that didn't stop him from putting his arm around her shoulders "What say you and I go back to my palace and we can look at all of my trophies?"

Jena knew that the "trophies" he was referring to were the one he got after he went hunting. And for Jena, she didn't really like the idea of looking at dead animals that were probably stuffed all over his walls "Maybe some other time." She pulled out of his grip "Please, Sentinel I have to get home and help my farther."

Ha! That crazy old rust bucket, it amazing he hasn't blown up the entire town!" Jena turned to see another mech she wasn't very fond of; she often called him Sentinel's partner in crime. His name was Swindle; he was a sleazy arms dealer who was always trying to sucker people into buying his merchandise. He was so low sometimes, Jena was sure that Swindle would probably sell his own mother to the highest bidder.

"My father is not crazy, Swindle!" Jena protested "He's a genesis!"

Just as Jena said that a somewhat large explosion came from her house and she quickly ran to it as fast as she could, ignoring the sound of the Sentinel and Swindle laughing.

Jena opened the door only to have a large amount of smoke to rush into her face "Dad, are you okay?"

She heard a groan and spotted her father once the smoke cleared. She heard him cough a few times before answering "Yes, I'm fine, Jena. No need to worry."

"You know every time you say that, I just worry even more." Jena turned to look at his newest invention "So what are you making for the fair this time?"

Jena watched as the fins on the side of Wheeljack's head glow a bright blue to show his excitement "I'm working on a special way for people to be able to go from one place to another without having to take such a long trip. I'm calling it a space bridge."

"Sounds cool. How it working so far?"

"It still has a few minor glitches, but I'm determined to get it to work. Just think with this you could travel anywhere you want to go."

"Hmm…Dad, you think I'm…odd?" Jena asked nervously

Wheeljack looked at her with confusion "Now why would you think something like that?"

Jena fiddled with her hair "Well…it's just some days I feel like I don't really belong here. There really no one I can really talk to."

Wheeljack placed a servo on his daughter's shoulder "Now Jena, you are not odd. You're a very special and intelligent femme. And don't ever let anyone tell you any different."

Jena smiled "Thanks dad. You need any help loading this stuff into your wagon?"

"Sure."

Once Jena and Wheeljack got all his space bridge stuff into his wagon, it was time for him to head off.

Jena kisses him on the cheek "Bye, dad and good luck."

Wheeljack removes his faceplate over his mouth to kiss her forehead "Bye, kiddo. Take good care of yourself while I'm gone."

With that Wheeljack shook the reins causing his cyber-house, Starchaser, to begin the long journey he had ahead of him. He looked back one more time to see Jena waving at him as he got farther and farther away from his home.

…

Wheeljack was starting to get a little worried. It had to at least been a few megacycles and he was still wandering around in the forest. He took a quick look at his map to see if maybe he missed a turn or something. Up ahead he could see there were to some signs, it rekindled his hope a bit, thinking maybe they could help tell him where he was. But when he held up his lantern to get a better look, he frowned. The labeling on the signs were almost completely cleaned off.

He decided he would try going right, despite the fact that Starchaser was trying to pull the wagon to the left. But after a short while, he started to regret his decision. Nothing on this path look familiar so he tried to turn back around, but he back up too far and bumped into a tree causing some cyber-bats to fly around and scare Starchaser so much that, Wheeljack fell off and watched as his horse went deeper into the woods without him.

Wheeljack looked around it was going to get really dark soon; he needed to find some shelter. And the situation didn't help as he spotted some cyber-wolves headed his way. He ran, knowing that his vehicle mode wouldn't do him much good with so many trees in the way. He wasn't paying attention and fell down a steep ledge, but luckily when he did he spotted a gate. He quickly ran up to it "Help! Is anyone here?"

Just as he thought that he was doomed the gate opened it appeared it was never locked, but he quickly closed it with a kick of his pede. Just barely escaping as the wolves tried to snap at him. Once he knew he was safe, he turned to look at the place in front of him. It turned out that he mange to find a large castle though he was hesitant in going in, seeing it's slightly gruesome appearance, but it was the only thing he had. He went up and knocked on the door, but the door slightly opened on its own. He stepped inside and closed the door just as it was staring to rain.

"Hello?" He heard his voice slightly echo back too him, but no answer

"Hello?" He tired again, still no answer

Wheeljack was starting to get scared because he was now starting to hear voices, but there was no one else around him

"Poor mech, he must have lost his way in the woods." Said one voice

"Shh, be quiet. Maybe he'll go away." Whispered another

"Is someone there?" Wheeljack asked "I don't mean to intrude, but I need a place to stay for the night."

Unknowingly to Wheeljack there was someone in the room with him, two someone's to be priece. On the table next to him, he didn't notice a white and black candle with a blue visor talking to a black and gold clock with a blue visor as well.

"Not a word, Jazz. Not one word." The black and gold clock said

"Oh, come on Prowl have a spark would ya?" Jazz tried to say something, but Prowl covered his mouth. Jazz didn't stay quiet for long since he forced Prowl to let go after his used one of his candle holder hands to burn Prowl's hand "Hey, mech feel free to stay as long as you need."

Wheeljack looked around him in confusion "Who said that?"

"Over here." Said Jazz

Wheeljack jumped when he say it was a candle talking to him.

"Great, Jazz. You really did it this time." Prowl scolded

Wheeljack's optics widened "You can…talk and move."

"Sure can mech." Jazz jumped off the table and started to head towards another room "Come on you can warm yourself up by the fire."

As Wheeljack followed Jazz, Prowl started to protest "No, no, no, Jazz you know the master won't tolerate a stranger coming in here."

…

Little did the three know that up the stairs, hiding in the shadows was a pair of red optics, filled with anger as he watched the intruder enter his home before disappearing into the darkness once more.

…

Once Jazz had leaded him into the living room, Wheeljack gratefully sat down and allowed himself to relax a bit. Though the clock known as Prowl continued to beg him to leave, his protest came to an end when he was nearly run over by a cart that entered the room. On the cart was a teapot, a cup and a feather duster.

"Hello, my name is Red Alert. Would you like some energon, sir?" Asked a red and white teapot

"Why, yes thank you so much." Replied Wheeljack

"I'm Arcee, I'll be your server for this evening." Said the pink and white feather duster as she pour some energon into a small yellow and black cup that had to little horns on the front.

As Wheeljack picked up the cup and removed his faceplate to take a sip, he swore he heard someone giggling.

"Hahahaha, hey that tickles!" Wheeljack pulled the cup back in surprise to see it was the one laughing "Hey, names Bumblebee and sorry for scaring you. I'm just kind of ticklish."

"That's alright." Wheeljack placed Bumblebee back down on the cart "Thank you all for your hospitality. I noticed you mentioned something about the person who lives here. May I see him?"

Wheeljack noticed that all of appliances frowned and looked at each other nervously after he asked that question.

"Uh…sir" Arcee piped up "You probably…don't really want to see our master."

Wheeljack cocked an optical ridge "Why not?"

"The master not really a…people person." Replied Jazz

"But still I wish to thank him properly for letting me stay. After all if his home wasn't here, I probably wouldn't have survived the night out in the woods." Wheeljack was starting to get more curious since none of the appliances seem to relax "Is something wro-"

The door that lead to a living room suddenly opened and a large gust of wind put out the fire sending a cold chill into the air and down Wheeljack's spinal strut. He heard heavy footsteps enter the room and noticed all of the appliances looked in horror of whatever came in.

"Uh…master allow me to explain. You see the mech here was lost in the woods and he just gonna spend the night till-"Prowl was silenced the moment his master shot him a look that clearly said 'Be quiet'.

Wheeljack griped the armrests of chair, hoping it would stop his current trembling. He was terrified to look behind him, but he managed to muster up some courage to look over his left shoulder. But it shocked him to see no one was there, but he knew that was impossible, he was sure that he heard someone come in. But when he turned his head around to look over his right shoulder…

"Ahhh!" Wheeljack fell out of his chair as he stared at the figure that suddenly seems to appear at his side. It was too dark to the person's face or body. The only thing that really stood out was the mech's piercing red optics.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Asked the dark mech

Wheeljack stammered "I…I was lost…in the woods and I-"

"No one is allowed in my castle." Interrupted the mech, his voice was tense

Wheeljack quickly apologizes "I'm sorry…I…I didn't mean to intrude your home. I just need a place to stay."

The mech leered darkly at him "Oh, I'll give you a place to stay alright."

Wheeljack looked in horror as the mech grabbed him and started dragging him to who knows where. All the while he was thinking '_Primus, what have I've gotten myself into now?'_


	2. Chapter 2

**The Femme and the Beast**

Jena let out a bit of a sad sigh, she was a little bored without her father around. She was so bored; she even started to look over some of her father's blueprints to see what he was planning on doing next. There came a knock at the door and Jena quickly got up to enter it, only to be disappointed by who was standing there.

"Sentinel, what a pleasant surprise." Jena muttered dryly

"Well, you know me, Jena. I'm always full of surprises." Sentinel boasted

Jena rolled her optics and replied sarcastically "Yes, you certainly are."

Sentinel stepped inside and leaned against the wall "You know Jena there isn't a femme in town, who love to be in your place right now."

"Oh, really? And why that?"

Sentinel smiled "Because this is the day your dreams will come true."

Jena walked back to the table to pick up her book and cocked an optical ridge at him "And what do you know about my dreams?"

"I know plenty." Sentinel sat down in the chair and propped his pedes up on the table and on her book, much to Jena's distaste "Picture this, living with me in a nice big house with my little mate while the little ones play with pets. We'll have six or seven."

"Six or seven pets?"

"No, Jena." Sentinel laughed "Six or seven mech just like me."

"Hmm, image that." Jena replied uncaringly as she went to put her book away

"And you know who that little mate will be?" Sentinel asked as he followed after her

"Hmm, let me think." Jena said

"You, Jena." Sentinel answered, giving her his best smile

Jena moved away and started to back away towards the door. She pretended to look interested "Sentinel, I'm…speechless. I really don't know what to say."

Sentinel placed both servos on each side of her head, trapping her against the door "Say you'll be my mate."

Jena's servo searched for the handle when she found it, she gripped it tightly "Sorry, Sentinel. I just…" She paused as Sentinel tried to lean in and kiss her "I just don't deserve you."

With that Jena opened the door causing Sentinel to fall forward and land face first in a mud puddle and then closed the door. She waited a few moments before opening the door again to see if he was gone.

She sighed with relief "Thank Primus he's gone." She walked outside "I can't believe he asked me of all bots to be his mate. Like I would ever want to be with someone like him." Jena walked until she came upon a cliff that showed the view of the river below it "Someday I'm going to get out here and look for somewhere more exciting."

She sighed again as she laid down on the ground and watched as the clouds went by, but it was cut short by the sound of a horse neighing. Jena got up with a jolt to see it was Starchaser.

"Starschaser!" Jena ran up and gently petted him to clam him down "What you doing here and where's Wheeljack?"

Jena was worried there didn't seem to be a sign of her father anywhere in the wagon "Starchaser, we have to go find him at once."

Jena removed the wagon part off and hopped on Starchaser's back. With that they went off into the woods, but as it was starting to get dark, they still had no luck finding Wheeljack. As they continued down the path, Jena spotted something up ahead. When they got closer, she saw it was a large castle.

'_What's a castle doing out in the middle of nowhere?' _she thought, but she still went towards it. This appeared to be the only place out here for miles; surely her father had to be here.

She jumped off Starschaser, opened the gate and walked down the pathway to the door.

…

Meanwhile in the castle Prowl was scolding at Jazz from the earlier events that had taken place. "You couldn't keep quiet could you? You just had to invite him to stay."

"I was just trying to be nice." Jazz argued

Prowl was about to say something back, but they both got quiet when they heard the sound of an unfamiliar voice "Hello? Is anyone here? Hello? Dad, are you here?"

They looked at the doorway just in time to see a blue and brown femme wandering around in the halls.

"Hey check it out, Prowl. It's a femme."

"I know what she is, Jazz. But what's she doing here?"

Jazz looked at the femme as she asked "Dad, are you here?" Jazz pondered something for a minute before asking "Prowl, do think that mech that was here earlier is femme's father?"

Prowl shrugged "It's possible after all she did show up here the night after he was taken to the dungeon. But still the master won't be happy to know she's here."

"You don't know that, Prowl. Maybe this is the femme who supposes to break the curse." Jazz says

Prowl gives Jazz an odd look "Now Jazz, lets not get ahead of ourselves."

"But think about, Prowl. It's almost been 20,000 stellar cycles and master said the rose would start to wilt soon. And now after all that waiting, a femme shows up after no one else would. It has to be a sign." Jazz interjected

Prowl just sighs and shakes his head, but when he turns back to Jazz, he sees him going down the hall "Jazz, what are you doing?"

Jazz doesn't look back as he goes down the hall, but answers "I'm gonna see if maybe I can help her look for her father."

"What?" Prowl quickly takes off after him "Jazz, get back here!" 

…...

Jena looked with awe and frustration at the castle halls. How would she ever find her father in a huge place like this? When she was going to call out again, she heard a small squeak. She turned to see that a door seem to swung open slightly and decided to look inside. She noticed there was a long spiraling staircase and started to go up it.

It seemed odd because she was sure that she had heard voices and saw something come in here "Is anyone there?"

Just then she heard a familiar and very weak voice "Help."

Jena gasped in surprise "Dad!"

Jena ran up and took one of the torches off the wall and held the light up to the small barred window. Sure enough her father servo reached out and grabbed hers.

"Jena, how did you find me?" Wheeljack asked

"Dad, you're so cold. I have to get you out of here."

Wheeljack let out a sharp cough "There no time to explain you have to get out of here before he finds you."

Jena shook her head "No, I won't leave you."

Suddenly something grabbed Jena's shoulder from behind and pulled her away from the cell causing her to drop to torch into a puddle of water

"What are you doing here?" she heard a deep voice of a mech ask

"Jena, run!" Wheeljack yelled

Jena looked around into the dark, but didn't see anyone "Who's there? Who are you?"

"I'm the master of this castle." Came an answer from the darkness

Jena swallowed her fear "I…I've come for my father. Please let him go. Can't you see he's sick?"

"Then he shouldn't have trespassed into my home!" The voice snapped

"But he'll die if he stays here." Jena argued back "Please I'll do anything."

"There's nothing you can do." The mech replied and Jena saw the outline of his body head towards the door

Jena bit her lip, trying to think of what she could do '_Maybe…' _Jena quickly called out "Wait!"

She saw him stop and look over his shoulder at her with blood red optics "T…take me instead."

"You!" the mech scoffed, but he paused and then asked in a slightly tender and surprised tone "You…would take his place?"

"No, Jena! You don't know what your doing!" Wheeljack protested

Jena ignored her father and asked "If I did, would you let him go?"

"Yes," The mech pauses before adding "But you must promise to stay here forever."

Jena was about to say yes, but there was one thing that bothered her "Could you come into the light?"

The mech was hesitant, but he stepped into the moonlight that came from the side window. Jena felt her optics widen at the sight of what was before her. This mech was very tall and huge with a dark cape that hung over his shoulders and down his back; most of his armor was green and black except for his face, which was an ashen white with black markings. The markings really brought out the bright red of his optics and there were spikes covered along his neck, shoulders and hips. She noticed none of his limbs matched the rest of him. His pedes looked somewhat similar with there design, but they were still different. His arms were the most surprising thing of all, the left one was a brown servo, but the right contained a yellow arm with a hook at the end of it.

Jena gasped in surprised and turn to her father, who looked just as surprised as she did "No, Jena! I won't let you do this!"

Jena got up and walked towards the mech, despite the slight bit of fear running through her "I promise I'll stay here. You have my word."

"Done!" The mech went to the cell and unlocked the door. Jena soon felt her father's servos touch her shoulders

"No, Jena! I'll be alright; I won't have you throw your life away like this!"

The dark mech grabbed Wheeljack and started to drag him away, ignoring Jena's protests for him to wait. As he took him outside, Wheeljack tried beg him to stop.

"Please, spare my daughter! Please!"

"She's no longer your concern." The mech threw Wheeljack into a large closet-looking object "Take him to the village."

Wheeljack continued to protest, but the strange thing didn't listen as it started walking towards the woods. Back in the castle, Jena watched from the window, crying to herself, as the carrier took her father away.

The dark mech proceeded back up the stair until he was stopped by Jazz, who had been standing in a small indent in the wall the entire time "Master?"

"What?"

"Well since the femme going to be staying for quite some time, I was thinking…" Jazz paused before continuing "You might want to offer her a more comfortable room."

Much to Jazz's disappointment his master said nothing, but continued up the stairs. Jazz let out a sigh "Or maybe not."

Jena was still crying when she saw the mech reenter the room "You didn't let me say goodbye. I'll never going to see him again and I didn't get to say good bye."

The dark mech felt a bit of guilt pass over him, but he tried to ignore it "I'll so you to your room."

Jena looked at him with surprise "My room? I thought…"

He cocked an optical ridge at her "Do you want to stay in the tower?"

Jena shook her head "No."

"Then follow me."

…

As Jena walked behind the strange mech, she looked around at her surroundings. The castle had such an eerie and creepy appearance to it. There were statues of monsters of all shapes and sizes all over the place. She noticed she was starting to lag behind and quickly ran to catch up with him.

The mech was carrying Jazz in his servo to light the way. He looked over his shoulder to see the femme was slightly crying.

"Say something to her, mech. She had it pretty rough tonight." Jazz encouraged

He looked back at her and asked "What's your name?"

She didn't look up at him, but answered "Jena. What about you?"

"Lockdown."

Lockdown looked back ahead, but Jazz was still pestering him to talk to her more "I…uh… hope you like it here. Feel free to explore as much as you like just don't go into the west wing."

Jena lifted her head a bit "What's in the west win-"

"It's forbidden!" Lockdown's voice echoed in quiet halls of the castle.

Things stay quiet until they finally got to her room. Lockdown opened the door for her "If you need anything, my servants will attend to you."

He felt Jazz nudge him "Dinner. Invite her to have dinner with you."

"Would you…" Lockdown started to ask her politely, but he quickly changed his attitude "You will join me for dinner. No excuses!"

He slammed the door closed while Jena gasped and went to the berth. She fell down on it and started to cry. She was now trapped forever in a castle with a horrible and cruel mech and would never see her father again. How was she ever going to get through this?


	3. Chapter 3

**The Femme and the Beast**

Back in the village, Sentinel was sitting by the fire waiting to his drink, thinking about what had happened this morning.

"How dare that femme say no to me! No one says no to me!"

"Now Sentinel, you need to stop beating yourself up like this." Swindle said, while bringing a drink for himself and the blue mech "I'm sure she'll come around eventually."

"I hope your right."

Just then the door to the bar opened and entered a frightened and slightly crazed Wheeljack.

"Someone help me!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him

"Please I need help! He's…he's got her locked in the dungeon!"

"Who?" asked a slightly drunk mech

"My daughter, Jena!" Wheeljack exclaimed "We have to go save her! There's not a minute to lose!"

"Whoa, there Wheeljack," Sentinel interjected "Who got Jena locked in a dungeon?"

Wheeljack stammered "I…I don't know what it was. I'm not even sure it was a mech! It…it was a monster, a breast! A terrible, horrible beast!"

There was a long pause of silence before everyone in the bar started cracking up laughing. Then some of the people there started making fun of Wheeljack by asking him questions about the so called beast.

"Was it a big beast?"

"He was huge! He was large and taller then anyone in this room!"

"Did he carry any weapons?"

"He did! One of his servos was a hook!"

"Did he have an ugly face?"

Wheeljack shuddered "It was hideous! He had pale white face with black markings and red optics that were the color of the fires of the pit itself! " Wheeljack started to pled again "Please won't someone help me?"

"Alright, old mech, we'll help you out." Sentinel said

Wheeljack felt his hope restored, he was smiling behind his faceplate "You will?" He felt two mechs take a hold of his arms "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

But then the two mechs tossed him out the door and into the storm where he fell into a large pile of snow.

Back in the bar one the mech who threw Wheeljack out commented "Crazy, old Wheeljack."

The other mech commented as well "He's always good for a laugh."

"Crazy, old Wheeljack," Sentinel muttered to himself, but then after a while he snapped his fingers "That's it!"

"What's it, Sentinel?" Asked Swindle

Sentinel moved closer to Swindle and then started whispering low enough so that only the tan and purple mech could hear "I figure out how I can win Jena over."

Swindle looked at him with a slightly surprised expression "Oh, really how so?"

"I realized why Jena won't leave and come with me. What to know why?" Swindle nodded his head "It's because she's always has to take care of that loony, old father of hers. But if for some reason he just happened to have to leave her, then I can just let Jena stay with me while her poor father is away."

Swindle smiled and raises an optical ridge in amusement "So I'm guessing you have a plan of some sort?"

Sentinel smiled and nodded "It's quite simple, my dear, old friend. We show a specialist just how crazy Wheeljack is, he goes to an insane asylum for who know how long and then Jena will try to do anything to make sure he doesn't stay. No matter what the cost may be she'll do it to keep her precious father safe.

"Sounds like a good plan. Do you have someone in mind that we can talk to?"

"No and I'm not really sure where we're going to find one."

Swindle grins "Well, worry not my friend. I know a mech who be perfect for the job."

Sentinel laughs evilly "Excellent."

Outside of the bar, Wheeljack manages to get himself back up. He was so disappointed that no one would listen to him. So he made a decision, he would have to go back to the castle and save Jena himself, but not tonight. He was tired and the storm was getting worse._ 'Oh, Jena I can only hope you'll be safe until I get back there.'_ With that Wheeljack starts the long trudge back to his home, feeling any empty hole starting to develop in his spark.

…

Back at Lockdown's castle, Jena was still in her room crying her optics out. Until she heard a knock at the door "Who is it?"

"It's Red Alert, dear." Jena opened the door, but noticed that no one was standing there. She gasped as a teapot along with a cup came in "I was wondering if you would like some energon."

Jena wondered if maybe she was starting to go crazy "But…but you're a…" Jena backed away only to run into a closet.

"Hey, be careful!" the closet snapped

"This…this is impossible."

"Maybe so but its true." The closet then adds "I'm Strika by the way."

"I'm Bumblebee," Jena looked down to see a little yellow and black cup with two horns talking to her "You're really pretty."

Jena blushed "Uh…thank you."

"Here you go, my dear." Red Alert poured some energon from her spout into Bumblebee, who then came up to Jena "Careful it might be hot."

Jena hesitantly picked him up and took a small sip "Hmm, this is good. Thank you."

"You're welcome. You know that was very brave what you did that there." Red Alert commented

Strika then adds "We all think so. Not many bots would be able to stand up to our master like you did."

"Maybe, but now I've lost my father, my home, my dreams and everything." Jena says sadly

"Try to cheer up, Jena. Everything will turn out alright." Says Red Alert before remembering something "Oh, I almost forgot we have to go there still supper that needs to be prepared. Bumblebee lets go."

"Bye." Bumblebee says as he hops off Jena's servo and leaves the room with Red Alert

"Well, then why don't we pick you something to wear for dinner?" Strika asks "Let's see what we got." Strika opens her closet doors only for some moths to fly out, she quickly shuts them "Sorry that was a little embarrassing." She opens them once more "Now how about this one?" She pulls out a red and pink dress "I think it will look good on you."

Jena sighs "That's very nice of you, but I don't think I'll be going to dinner."

Strika gasps "But you must, the master will be very upset if you don't."

Just then the door opened and the black and gold clock known as Prowl entered the room "Pardon me for interrupting, but I like to announce that dinner is served."

…

Meanwhile down stairs in the dining room, Lockdown was pacing back and forth near the fireplace.

"What's taking so long?" He mutters "I told her to come down." He turns his attention to Jazz and Red Alert, who were standing on the mantle over the fire place "Why isn't she here yet?"

"Sir, please try to be patient." Red Alert says calmly "The poor femme lost her father and her freedom all in one day."

"Uh…master, have you thought that maybe this femme could be the one to break the spell?" Jazz asked

"Of course I have!" Lockdown snapped

"Good," Jazz praised "So you fall in love with her, she falls in love with you and bingo! No more curse, we'll be robots again and you'll be free to go beyond the forest again all by midnight."

"Jazz, you can't just rush things like love." Red Alert protested "These things take time."

"Maybe but time something we don't have. The rose is already starting to wilt." Jazz argues back

Lockdown sighs "It's no use. She so beautiful and I'm just…well look at me!"

Jazz and Red Alert look at each other unsure what to say, but eventually Red Alert speaks up "Master, you just need to help her see past all that."

"I don't know how." Lockdown grumbles

Red Alert rolls her eyes "Well, you can start by trying to act like a gentle-mech."

Jazz starts to add in his own ideas "Yeah, show her your witness."

"But be gentle."

"Shower her with confidence."

"But be sincere."

Lockdown was getting annoyed; all this pointer tips were too much for him. He almost lost it when Jazz started "And above all…you must not lose your temper!" The two appliances said in unison

Just then they heard the door open, Lockdown almost jumped, still not confident that he was ready for this. But it turned out only to be Prowl.

"Well, where is she?" Lockdown asked tensely

Prowl stuttered "Well…uh…she's…um…" Prowl sighed in defeat "She says she's not coming."

There was a brief silence before Lockdown's voice bellowed "WHAT!" It was so loud it echoed throughout the entire castle. He stormed out of the dining hall and started to make his way towards Jena's room with Prowl, Jazz and Red Alert following quickly behind him.

"Master, master, please let's not do anything hasty!" Prowl tired to appease him

When Lockdown came to the door, he pounded one it three times "I thought I told you to come down for dinner!"

"I'm not hungry." Came Jena's voice from behind the door

Lockdown let out a growl of annoyance "You'll come out or I'll…I'll break down the door!"

"Uh…master" Lockdown turned to look at Jazz "I might be wrong, but I don't think that's the best way to win her affections."

"Please, sir" Prowl pleaded "Could you attempt to be a gentle-mech?"

"But she being so…difficult!" Lockdown snarled

"Master, please gently, gently." Red Alert whispers

"Will you come down to dinner?" Lockdown asked more gently

"No." Jena replied

Lockdown looks at his servants with an "I told you so" look, but they issue him to try again.

"It would give me great pleasure," Lockdown says through gritted dentals "If you would join me for dinner." Prowl mouths at him to add a please "…Please."

"No, thank you." Jena says

"You can't stay in there forever!" Lockdown yells

"Yes, I can!" Jena says with confidence

"Fine!" Lockdown huffs "Go ahead and starve for all I care!" Lockdown turns to his servants again "If she doesn't eat with me, then she doesn't eat at all!"

Lockdown leaves to go back to his room. The three appealiences look at each other with disappointment. This could be a lot harder then they thought.

…

Lockdown busts the door of his room and tosses a chair aside, mumbling to himself "I ask her nicely and she refuses." He walks over to the table near the balcony "What does want me to do beg?"

He grabs hold of the mirror on the table "Show the femme." He briefly sees his own reflection before the mirror showed Jena and Strika sitting on her bed, talking to each other.

"You know the master isn't really that bad once you get to know him." Commented Strika "Why don't you give him a chance?"

"But I don't want to give him a chance," Jena protested "I don't want anything to do with him."

Lockdown looked in shock as he listened to what Jena had just said; he placed the mirror back down and sighed "Who am I kidding? She'll never see me anymore then some monster." He watched as another petal from the rose dropped down to join the four that had already fallen off "It's hopeless."

…

Later on that night Jena, driven by her hunger, snuck out of her room. Unaware that behind the curtain just outside her room, Arcee and Jazz were watching her leave. Jena managed to find her way through the castle and then head downstairs towards the kitchen.

In the kitchen Red Alert was putting Bumblebee to bed while Prowl was grumbling about the events that had occurred this night.

"If you ask me that femme is just being a bit stubborn. The master did try his hardest to be nice." Says Prowl

"But unless the master learns to control that temper of his, I'm afraid-"Red Alert stopped as she noticed that Jena had entered the kitchen

"Good to see you out and about, Miss Jena." Prowl says politely "Rest assured if there anything you need to make yourself more comfortable, do say so."

"Well…I am a little hungry." Jena timidly admits

"You are?" Red Alert asked "Someone start making her something to eat."

"Red Alert, remember what the master said." Prowl whispered

"Oh, for Primus sake, Prowl." Everyone turned to see Jazz and Arcee enter the kitchen "You don't want the poor femme to go hungry do you?"

"Arcee, right after all she is our guest." Jazz points out

Prowl sighs in defeat "Alright, but just keep it down. If the master finds out it will be on our heads."

After a little preparation, they manage to make a wonderful meal for Jena. Then once she was done, she helped clean the dishes. Prowl looked down at the clock that made part of his face to see it was pretty late.

"It's getting late; I suppose it's off to bed."

"Are you kidding? I couldn't possibly go to bed now." Jena exclaimed "This is my first time in an enchanted castle."

"And just made you think the castle is enchanted?" asked Prowl

Jena rolled her optics at such an obvious question "Oh, you know with the talking furniture and stuff like that. I just kind of figured it out myself." Jena thought a bit before adding "I would really like to have a look around. That is if it's okay with you of course."

"Come on, Prowl." Jazz nudges him "You know the castle better then anyone. Give her a tour."

"I suppose that would be alright."


	4. Chapter 4

**The Femme and the Beast**

Prowl continued to give Jena the tour of the castle, stopping every now and then to explain some of the history about certain items. But after a while, Jena grew a little bored. So she decided to do some exploring on her own. As she made her way down the hall, she noticed that there was another staircase near by. She hadn't seen it before, she was curious to where it went to. But just as she started walking up it, she heard the sounds of Jazz and Prowl telling her to stop. Though she ignored them and continued up, only to have them block her path.

Now Jena was suspicious "What's up there?"

"Nothing, nothing you need to worry about." Came a quick answer from Prowl

"Yeah, it's just the west wing. It's very dull and boring." Jazz added

"Oh, so this is the west wing." Jena tried to look beyond the stairs "I wonder what he's hiding up there."

"Hiding? The master isn't hiding anything." Prowl says

"Are you sure?" Jena asked "He told me I'm never allowed to go up there."

Jazz tried to change the subject "Uh…why don't we go look at something else like the garden or the library."

"You have a library?" Jena asked, excitedly

Prowl saw this as a good chance to turn her attention to something else "Yes, we do. The library has a very large array of books."

Jena started to follow them as they started to lead her towards the library, but she stopped. She really wanted to see why the west wing was so forbidden, so when Prowl and Jazz weren't looking, she took off up the stairs. She noticed much like the rest of the castle, the hallway was very creepy filled with different of statues that looked like monsters. As she got to the end she saw a very large handle that must have lead to a room of some sort. She opened the door and stepped inside.

Jena figured that this must be Lockdown's room, but what really surprised her was how messy it was. There were tons of things that were knocked or smashed on the floor. There were drapes and sheets on the berth that looked like they had been ripped to sheds. Carefully maneuvering around the mess, she ventured deeper into his room. She noticed that there was a picture hanging slightly on the wall, she stepped closer to look at it. It looked like it have been a family photo since there was a mech and a femme in it, but for some reason their faces and parts of their bodies looked as though they scarped out. Jena pondered if maybe it had been Lockdown's hook was the cause of this. But the one thing that really stood out was towards the bottom, it appeared as though an entire section of the picture had been cut out. But there appeared to be small bits of pieces of another body, so it seems there was someone else in the picture. Jena started to think that maybe the missing piece was Lockdown when he was younger while the mech and femme in the picture were his parents. But why would someone do something like ruin what looked to be a nice family portrait? Did Lockdown maybe have a bad childhood?

Too many questions ran through Jena's processer, but they seem to stop as something that appeared to be glowing caught her optic. She turned to see that near the window that leads to the balcony was a table. When she got closer she saw that on it was a mirror, she picked it up and took a small look at it before placing it back down. It didn't seem very special, so why was it here? She came up with the idea that maybe it was some kind of family memento. Perhaps it belonged to Lockdown's mother.

The other object on the table was something that Jena truly found fascinating. It was a flower, a rose if she remembered from what she read about organic plants, covered by a glass dome. But a few questions came to mind as she examined it: Why was it glowing? She never heard or read about a plant that was able to glow. Could it be magical somehow? Also how was it staying alive? If she recalled correctly organic plants need soil and water in order to survive. It was staying alive somehow, but she did notice that a few of the petals must have wilted and fallen off.

Becoming more curious about the plant, Jena decided to try to inspect it a little closer. She removed the glass dome and set it carefully on the floor. Despite the few missing petals, Jena had to admit the rose was beautiful. She slowly reached out to touch it just to see if anything might happen if she did. But just as she was about to touch one of the petals, a dark shadow suddenly fall over her and Jena felt a strange feeling someone was watching her.

She looked up to see her hunch was correct to standing just across the table from her was Lockdown, looking less then pleased to see her. Jena jumped back as he moved and placed the glass dome back on top of the rose. Jena couldn't help but notice he seemed very protective of it. It made her wonder why. Jena gulped slightly as Lockdown turned his attention back to her.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, his voice was tense

Jena quickly tried to apologize "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"I told you never to come in here!" Lockdown snapped

"I didn't mean any harm." Jena tried to defend herself

"Do you have any idea what you could have done?" he smashed his fist into other small table near him, breaking it in half.

"Please, stop." Jena's back ran into a barely destroyed dresser

"Get, out!" Lockdown bellowed as his fist came to create a fairly large hole in the dresser, not too far from where she was standing. Jena quickly fled from the room, not daring to look back behind her. Lockdown watched as she left, sure he was mad at her, but he brought his servo to his face as he realized he probably made a huge mistake by yelling at her like that.

Jena ran to her room, quickly grabbed her cloak and ran back downstairs to the castle entrance. She noticed that Prowl and Jazz were on the stairs, but she ignored them.

"Jena, where are you going?" Jazz asked

"Promise or no promise. I can't stay here for other minute." Jena replied as she pulled the door open, letting a cold rush of air enter the room. She didn't listen as Jazz and Prowl tried to tell her not to go.

She ran to the gate to see that Starchaser was still there. She quickly got on him and headed off deep into the woods. It didn't matter where she went as long as it was far away from the castle. As Starchaser rushed through the trees, he suddenly came to halt and Jena saw that there was a group of cyber-wolves heading their way. Jena immediately told Starchaser to go the other way, but the wolves were hot on their trail. She let out a scream, as apparently they had found a river that had been covered in snow and they both fell through the ice and into the water. Thankfully Starchaser got out of the water in time, but the wolves were still chasing them.

They got a little far until another group of wolves appeared in front of them causing Starchaser to buck Jena right off as well as get the reins caught in one of the branches, making it impossible for Starchaser to move. Jena watched as Starchaser tried to kick the wolves to keep them away, but it wasn't enough when one of the wolves got on top of him. Jena found a tree branch and knocked the wolf right off. Jena started to panic there was no way she could fight off all these wolves, but she had to try. She started swinging the branch at then, but one of the wolves caught it and ripped it in half. A second wolf jumped at her and managed to grab the end of her cloak causing her to fall backwards into the snow. She tried to pull it free, but it wouldn't come loose. Then she let out a scream as a third wolf try to lunge at her.

Jena thought it was the end when she saw a flash of brown came out and grabbed the wolf that tried to jump at her. She turned to see it was Lockdown. He grabbed a hold of the wolf that was on her cloak and tossed it aside. Lockdown stood protectively over her as the other wolves tried to close in on her. He suddenly lashed out and Jena watched in surprise as his brown servo became a chainsaw. Jena closed her optics as she listened to the sounds of fighting along with the wolves and Lockdown crying in pain. When everything started to quiet down, Jena hesitantly opened her optics as she watched some of the remaining wolves yowl in fear as they ran away.

She looked to see Lockdown still standing, he was breathing very hard, his chainsaw had turned back into a servo and there was a bit of wolves blood along with dead bodies surrounding near his pedes. Lockdown turned to look at her, but then Jena noticed he suddenly shut his optics and collapsed into the snow. Jena rushed up to him and noticed that there was a pretty bad gash on this hook arm. With some difficulty she managed to get him on the back and Starchaser and start taking him back to his castle. When they finally made it, Jena carried him the rest of the way. She opened the door to see everyone standing there looking happy that she was back, but it changed to concern as they saw their unconscious master.

Jena took him to the living room and placed him in the large chair. She told Red Alert to bring some hot water and a cloth. Eventually Lockdown woke back up and Jena filled in some detail of what happened to him. As she filled hot water from Red Alert into a bowl and put the washcloth in it, she pulled it out and rid it of some of the excess water. She noticed that Lockdown was starting to scratch his wound.

"Don't do that, you'll only make it worse." Jena says, trying to take a hold of his arm to clean the wound, but Lockdown pulled it away "Just hold still for a moment." Jena placed the wet cloth on his wound causing Lockdown to let out a roar of pain.

"That hurts!" He complains

"If you hold still, it wouldn't hurt as much." Jena grumbles

"If you hadn't run away, none of this would have happened!" Lockdown shouted

"If you hadn't frightened me, I wouldn't have run away!" Jena argues back

Lockdown paused before pointing out another comeback "Well, you shouldn't have been in the west wing!"

"Well, you should learn to control your temper." Jena snaps

Jena hold his arm out "Now, hold still this might sting a little." She places a cloth on the wound causing him to grunt in pain "By the way…thank you for saving my life."

Lockdown stops and looks at her with surprise. She was actually thanking him? He put the thought aside before mumbling "You're welcome."

…

Meanwhile back in the village, Sentinel and Swindle were at the bar meeting with Megatron, the head of the insane asylum.

"I usually don't leave the asylum in the middle of the night." Megatron commented "You better make this worth my wild. Sentinel said nothing but pulled out a large amount of credits and handed them to Megatorn "I'm listening."

"It's like this I've got my spark set out in making femme named Jena as my mate." Sentinel begins "But she needs a little…persuasion."

"No, kidding, she turned him down faster then you can say 'hello'." Swindle laughed

Sentinel nudges him to be quiet before continuing "Look everyone knows her father, Wheeljack is a crazy bag of blots. He keeps talking about some horrible monster that lives in a castle."

Megatron look strangely at him "I don't see how that's my problem. I find Mister Wheeljack to be quite harmless."

"The point is that Jena would do anything to keep him from getting locked up."

"Yeah, even if it means becoming his mate." Swindle slyly added

Megatron seemed to have figured out his plan "So what you're telling me is that you want me to throw her father into the asylum unless she agrees to be your mate?" Sentinel nodded "Oh, that so despicable of you, Sentinel Prime." Megatron smiles before letting out an evil chuckle "I love it."

Meanwhile at Wheeljack's house, he was packing some things that he was going to need for a long trip. Since everyone thought he was crazy about what he said about Jena being held captive by a monster, he decided he would go save her on his own.

"I don't care how long it takes, I'll find a way to get her out of there." He mutters to himself as he storms out the door and heads back into the woods. But little did Wheeljack know that just as he left his house, Sentinel and Swindle arrived there.

Sentinel bust down the door and called out "Jena? Wheeljack?"

The two mechs searched high and low, but neither one of them found anything.

"It doesn't look like their here." Swindle says

"Well, it doesn't matter they'll have to come home sometime, but until then I want you to come around this area ever so often and if they come back, report it to me immediately." Sentinel commands

"No problem."

…

It was early morning at the castle, Lockdown, Prowl and Jazz watched from the balcony as Jena played with Bumblebee and Arcee in the snow.

Lockdown was starting to have different feelings about Jena, ever since she helped him last night; he was starting to see her in a different light. When she would smile or laugh, even if it was just a little, it would make his spark pulse a little faster before he forced it to calm down. Or when she touched him, it felt like an electric shock had gone through him. He had never felt this way about anyone one before, it scared yet excited him all at the same time.

He unconditionally rubbed his healed arm; Jena had done a good job with fixing it. He felt like should give her something in return for helping him so much "I want to do something for her. But what can I do?"

"Well, you could give her something traditional like flowers or gifts." Prowl comments

"I doubt Jena would like any of that stuff, Prowl." Jazz interjected "It has to be something special, something that really sparks her interests." Jazz pauses before an idea pops into his head "Wait, a nano-click…I know just the perfect thing."

When Jena came inside, she saw Lockdown waiting for her; he said he had something to give her. Lockdown lead her through the halls of the castle till they arrived at their destination.

"Jena, there's something I want to show you." Lockdown starts to open the door, but then he closes it again "But first you have to close your optics." Jena looked quizzical at him "It's a surprise."

Jena does what she is told and Lockdown waved his servo in front of her face to be sure she couldn't see anything. He opened the door and led her inside.

"Can I open them?" Jena asked

"No, not yet." Lockdown stopped when they were in the middle of the room "Wait right here."

Lockdown went to large curtains and pulled on them to open so that light could shine into the room. Jena meanwhile was trying to figure out what he was up to.

"Now can I open them?"

Lockdown tugged on the final curtain "Alright, open them up right now."

Jena opened her optics and gasped to see they were standing in a giant library. It was beautiful. There were books as far as the optic could see "I can't believe it. I never saw so many books in my entire function."

"You…you like it?" Lockdown asked, slightly nervous

"It's incredible!" Jena said in awe

"Then I want you to have it."

Jena smiled warmly at him "Thank you so much."

Outside the doorway everyone else watched them, pleased that Jena liked their master's gift so much. This was a good sign. They were all noticing the changes that were happening between the two of them. Jena and Lockdown were spending more time together, eating and talking to each other. They were amazed by how much their master's attitude had changed in such a short time. He was much less harsher not just towards Jena, but everyone else as well. Who would have thought that one femme could change so much in their lives?

Jena wouldn't say it out loud, but she was experiencing different feeling towards Lockdown. She was happy to see he was controlling his temper a lot more and acting almost like a perfect gentle-mech. True, Lockdown wasn't exactly the kind of prince she always thought of, but there was something special about him, something that just made her want to get closer to him. And it may be possible that maybe, just maybe, she felt something even more for him then just a friend.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Femme and the Beast**

Lockdown continued to wash himself while he was in the wash racks. He wanted to look his best tonight. He had planned a special night all for Jena; he really hoped she would like it.

"I don't know if I can do this." Lockdown groaned

"Of course you can. You just have to be strong, bold and daring." Jazz encouraged

Lockdown got out and dried himself, he turned to look at the rose in its glass dome. It was starting to wilt even more; it wouldn't be long before the last petal would fall.

"Look all you need is some music, romantic candlelight, provided by myself of course." Jazz watched as his master continues to dry off "And then when the moment is right, you confess your love to her."

Lockdown removed the towel and looked himself in the mirror "Yes…I can…I can't do this."

"You care about Jena don't you?" Jazz asked

"I care about her more then anything in the world." Lockdown admitted while putting on an old black and green suit that matched his armor

"Then you have to tell her. Just say it with everything you got."

Lockdown was about to say something else, but then Prowl enter the room and said "Your femme awaits."

Lockdown straightens his suit and waits on the staircase beside his room. Just then the door to Jena's room opened and out stepped Jena. When Lockdown saw her, his intake got caught in his throat. She was wear a beautiful navy blue dress with a sliver necklace, part of her hair was done up in an elegant bun while the rest framed around her face. She walked down the stairs, looked up at him and smiled. Lockdown cleared his throat and proceeded down the stairs. When they met in the middle they bowed to each other. Mean while Red Alert and Bumblebee watched them as Red Alert started to sing.

_Tale as old as time_

_True as it can be_

Lockdown offered his arm to Jena, she took it and they proceeded down the rest of the stairs.

_Barely even friends _

_Then somebody bends unexpectedly_

Jena and Lockdown both sat down for dinner, she was pleased to see that his table manners had improved.

_Just a little change_

_Small to say the least_

As Jena finished her dinner, she got up and pulled Lockdown into the dancing hall.

_Both a little scared_

_Neither one prepared_

_Beauty and the Beast_

Lockdown was nervous; he gulped slightly as Jena placed his hook arm around her waist while his servo held one of her own. She started to slowly lead him into a dance.

_Ever just the same_

_Ever a surprise_

_Ever just before_

_Ever just as sure_

_As the sun will rise_

Though it had been stellar cycles since the last time he danced with someone, Lockdown was starting to get the hang of it. Soon enough, he smiled and started to take the lead.

_Tale as old as time_

_Tune as old as song_

_Bittersweet and change_

_Finding you can change_

_Learning you were wrong_

They danced as one, when Lockdown would twirl her around, she pull away and then come right back into his arms.

_Certain as the sun_

_Rising in the east_

_Tale as old as time_

_Song as old as rhyme_

_Beauty and the Beast_

Jena then did something unexpectedly; she laid her head down on his chassis and listened to his spark beat. Lockdown look at her in shock, but he smiled and noticed Jazz and Prowl were both giving him the thumbs up. Jazz then commanded the other candles to dim their lighting to try and set the mood.

_Tale as old as time _

_Song as old as rhyme_

_Beauty and the Beast_

As Red Alert finished her song, she and Bumblebee leave the room to go to bed with Prowl and Jazz following right behind them. Lockdown lead Jena out on the balcony and they both sat done on the ledge. Lockdown sat a little away from her, but then scooted a little closer.

"Jena," Lockdown took her servo with his own "Are you…happy here with me?"

"Yes, I'm happy with you." Jena replied truthfully

Lockdown felt his spark leap with joy, maybe now he could tell her how he really felt about her. But as he turned to tell her, he noticed that Jena was looking out in the distance with a sad expression on her face.

"What's wrong?"

Jena hesitated before admitting "I just wish I could see my father again, just for a moment. I miss him so much."

Lockdown thought about it for a moment and then remembered something "There is a way you can see him."

Jena looked at him with surprise "Really? How?"

Lockdown lead her back inside and headed back towards his room. They carefully moved around the mess and stopped in front of the table with the mirror and the rose. Lockdown picked up the mirror "This mirror can show you anything you wish to see."

Jena took a hold to it "I wish to see my father, Wheeljack, please." The mirror shined brightly, momentarily blinding her and when she looked again, she gasped. Wheeljack was walking through the forest, but he collapsed and started to cough really hard "Dad, oh, no. His sick, he could be dying and he's all alone."

Lockdown turned and look at the wilting rose. Clenching his fist, he made the hardest decision he ever had to do "Then you…you go and find him."

Jena looked surprised "What did you say?"

"I'm releasing you…you're no longer my prisoner."

Jena stammered "Y…you mean I'm free?"

"Yes." Lockdown said sadly

"Oh, thank you, Lockdown." Jena looked at the mirror again "Hang on, dad. I'm on my way."

Jena turned to hand him back the mirror, but Lockdown put his servos up in protest "Keep it. So that you'll always have a way to look back…" He ran his fingers through her hair "And remember me."

Jena looked at the mirror and then back at him "Thank you for understanding how much he needs me." She reaches up to caress his cheek "I'll never forget you."

Lockdown watches as Jena leaves, but just as she left, Prowl came into the room "Well, master I have to admit that everything is going perfectly. I knew you could do it."

"I let her go." Lockdown said softy

"Yes, that's good to-"Prowl came to a halt "Wait, what? How could you do that?"

"I had to."

"But why?" Prowl asked

Lockdown replied with every bit of emotion he had "Because…I love her and I want her to be happy."

…

"He did what?" asked the other talking appliances

"I'm afraid it's true" Prowl reported sadly

"She's really going away?" Asked Bumblebee

"But he was so close." Jazz complained

"After all this time he's finally learned to love." Red Alert says sadly

"Wait that should be it then isn't it? Wasn't that supposes to break the spell?" Jazz asked

Arcee shook her head "No, the curse would be broken if the master learned how to love and the person he loved returned it back to him."

Red Alert then added "Arcee's right. We know the master loves Jena, but we don't know if she loves him back."

"And now it's too late." Prowl noted

But while everyone was too busy mourning over what just happened, no one noticed that Bumblebee snuck out of the room and quickly went downstairs, hoping his plan he had come up with would work.

Lockdown stood outside on his balcony, watching as Jena got on her horse and left the castle. As he watched her leave, he swore he felt his spark break again, just as it did all those stellar cycles ago.

…

Jena and Starchaser rushed through the forest, Jena calling out "Dad! Dad, where are you?"

After a while they finally found him. Jena gasped; Wheeljack was unconscious, laying face down in the snow.

"Dad!" she cried out

Jena carefully picked up her father and placed him on Starchaser's back. Once she managed to get him back home, she carried him inside and placed him on his berth, covering him up with a blanket and building up the fire to keep him warm.

Unknowingly outside their home, Swindle happened to be passing by to check to see if they were home. He saw that they when he saw Jena carrying Wheeljack up the steps "Ah, they're back." Swindle quickly turned the other way around and rushed to tell Sentinel the news.

Wheeljack groaned as he started to regain consinesss. When he opened his optics, he was amazed to see Jena was sitting next to him. He prayed to Primus that he wasn't dreaming.

"Jena." Wheeljack said weakly

"Shh, it's okay, dad. I'm here now; you're going to be just fine." Jena says calmly

Wheeljack was so overjoyed, he sat up and hugged his daughter "I thought I would never see you again."

"I miss you so much." Jena admitted

Wheeljack pulled back to look at her "But what about that monstrous mech? How did you escape?"

"I didn't escape, dad. He…he let me go." Jena explained

Wheeljack looked at her strange "That horrible beast-"

"Dad," Jena interrupted "He different now. He's…changed somehow." Before Jena could say anything else a noise caught her attention. She turned and watched her knapsack on the berth fall over. And much to her surprise, a familiar yellow and black cup fell out along with her mirror.

"Uh…hi." Bumblebee said, sheepishly

Jena giggled "Oh, look a stowaway."

"Why hello there, little fella." Wheeljack picked Bumblebee up "I didn't think I was going to see you again."

Bumblebee smiled at Wheeljack before turning to Jena and asked "Jena, why did you go away? Don't you like us anymore?"

"Oh, Bumblebee of course I like you guys. It just that-." There was a knock at the door and when Jena got up and answered it, she saw a large grey and black mech with red optics that reminded her of Lockdown's optics standing there "May I help you with something, sir?"

Megatorn nodded "Yes, I've come to collect your father."

"M…my father?" Jena questioned

"Don't worry, my dear. We'll take good care of him." Megatron smiled wickedly, gesturing with a wave of his arm to where all the townspeople were standing outside with torches and near them was a cart that said "Asylum for the insane."

Jena gasped and quickly protested "My father's not crazy!"

"Oh, please," Swindle says "He was talking like a lunatic, the whole town heard him. Didn't we?"

The coward cheered a yes as Sentinel remained hidden in the shadows, smiling that his plan was working. Two mechs from the cart came out, but Jena tried to stop them "No, I won't let take him away."

Suddenly Wheeljack came outside to see what the noise was all about "Jena, what's going on?'

"Wheeljack! Why don't you tell us again just how horrible this beast was?" Swindle encouraged

"Well, he…he was enormous." Wheeljack stammered out "He was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen."

Everyone laughed while Swindle commented "Well; now you don't get much crazier then that."

"It's true I tell you!" Wheeljack went down the stairs, but the two mechs from the cart grabbed a hold of him and started to take him away "Let go of me!"

"No!" Jena grabbed Megatron's arm "Please, you can't do this!"

Megatron simply pulled his arm out of her grasp and Jena stared hopelessly as he walked away. She heard a tsking sound and saw that Sentinel was behind her.

"Poor, Jena. It's a shame about your father." He said, with mocking sympathy

"Sentinel, you know he's not crazy."

"Hmm, I might be able to clear up this little misunderstanding." Sentinel rubbed his large chin, trying to look thoughtful "If…"

"If what?" Jena asked, somewhat desperate

He smiled cruelly "If you be my mate."

Jena looked startled "What?"

Sentinel put his arm around Jena and pulled her close to him "One little word, Jena. That's all it takes."

Jena shoved herself out of his grip "No, never!"

"Have it your way then," Sentinel gave an uncaring wave of his servo

Though he was being carried away, Wheeljack managed to call out "Jena!"

Jena searched her processer, trying to figure out how to stop this madness. An idea popped into her head and she prayed it would work. She quickly ran back inside the house. Wheeljack continued to struggle just as the two mechs were about to put him in the cart "Let go of me!"

Jena rushed back outside, holding a mirror in her servo "My father's not crazy and I can prove it!" Everyone turned to look at her; Jena held the mirror in front of her and said "Show me Lockdown!" As the mirror glowed, Jena held it out and everyone in the town either gasped or screamed as Lockdown's face appeared in the mirror, an angry expression was etched into it.

Everyone started whispering to each other.

"It's true, there really is a monster!"

"Wheeljack was right!"

"Is it dangerous?" an older femme asked Jena

"Oh, no, no, no, he would never hurt anyone. I know he looks scary, but he's…" Jena looked at Lockdown in the mirror with a small smile "He's really nice and kind and gentle and…he's my friend."

Sentinel couldn't help but notice the slightly dreamy look on Jena's face as she looked into the mirror, he grabbed a hold of her shoulders and spun her around "If I didn't know any better, I think you actually had feelings for that monster."

"Lockdown isn't the monster, Sentinel!" Jena yelled "You are!"

Sentinel grinded his dentals and snatched the mirror out of her servos "Listen to that! She's actually knows that monster's name, she just as crazy as her father!" He turned back towards the crowd "The beast will make off with your children, he come after them in the night!" Jena tired to protest, but no one would listen "We're not safe until his head is mounted on my wall! I say we kill the beast!"

Everyone cheered in agreement and then Sentinel announced "Alright, we're not coming home until he's good and dead! Kill the beast!"

Jena grabbed Sentinel's arm "No! I won't let you do this!"

Sentinel took a hold of her wrist "If you're not with us, you're against us. Bring the old mech!" The two mechs that were dragged Wheeljack picked him up and tossed him into the cellar "We can't have them running off to warn the creature." Sentinel threw Jena in as well then closed the door and locked it.

"Let us out!" Jena yelled, pounding her fist on the door

"We'll rid the town of this beast! Who's with me?" Sentinel asked only to have everyone yell in agreement

Sentinel got on his cyber-horse and started to lead the crowd, carrying all sorts of weapons, through the streets and into the forest were they begun to make their way towards Lockdown's castle.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Femme and the Beast**

Jena cursed under her intake as the stick she had broke when she tried to pry the little window in the cellar open "I have to go and warn Lockdown." Jena buried her face into her servos "This is all my fault."

Wheeljack came up and hugged his daughter "Don't worry, Jena. I'm sure we'll think of something."

Little did they know that Bumblebee was just outside the window, he had seen everything that had happened outside down to the part were Jena and Wheeljack got thrown into the cellar. He tapped on the window to try and get their attention.

Jena looked up and saw in him "Bumblebee?"

"Jena, don't worry I'll get you guys out of there!" Bumblebee said confidently. The little cup went to the lock and tried to see if maybe he could pick it, but it was no use. Without the key, the lock wouldn't open. He went back to the window "It's no use, I can't get it open."

Jena smiled a little "Its okay, Bumblebee. You did your best that's all that matters."

Wheeljack started to look around, there had to be something in here that could help them get out. Just then he saw something in the corner of the room "My space bridge!"

Jena turned to look and sure enough it was her father's space bridge "Dad, what's it doing down here?"

"After you said you would trade places with me back at the castle and that cabinet thing took me back to the village. I was so worried about you; I couldn't work on any of my inventions." Wheeljack remorse sadly "So I placed my space bridge here in storage so I could focus on getting you back, but with your help, we might be able to get it to work and be our ticket out of here."

"But dad, you said it still had some glitches and you've never really test it before." Jena pointed out

"I know, but it's the only chance we got."

Jena bit her lip, but agreed "Okay, let's get to work."

Jena started connecting some of the loose wires while Wheeljack made sure that he had everything he needed, but then realized something was missing "Oh, no…"

Jena asked "What's wrong?"

Wheeljack slapped a servo over his face "I can't find the remote control to turn it on. I must have left it on the table in the house. Wait…" Wheeljack ran to the window "Bumblebee, I need you to go inside and on the table is a small remote control. When I give the signal, I need you to press the blue button."

Bumblebee nodded and made his way back into the house. With some difficulty, he managed to get onto the table and find the remote. Back in the cellar Jena and Wheeljack continued to work on the space bridge, both of them praying they could get it to work."

…

Meanwhile, Sentinel was still leading some of the townspeople through the forest. Some of them had stopped to cut down one of the trees in order to make a battering ram. When they were finished they carried it, continued to follow Sentinel and yelled "Kill the beast!" as it begun to rain, Lockdown's castle came into view.

…

Within the castle, everyone was still mourning over what had happened tonight.

"I knew it. I knew we shouldn't have gotten our hopes up." Prowl stated

"Maybe it would have been better if she never showed up at all." Jazz added, crossing his candle holding arms.

"Guys, look!" Acree cried, looking outside the window

"Is it Jena did she come back?" Red Alert asked hopefully

"No, it's worse come look!"

Everyone came up to the window and gasped. When they look down they saw Sentinel holding on to their master's mirror along with a large crowd, carrying the large batting ram, following right behind him.

"Go and warn the master!" Prowl ordered "If it's a fight they want then it's a fight they're going to get!"

Outside Sentinel commanded "Take whatever valuables you can find, but leave the beast to me!"

Back inside everyone rushed downstairs to prepare for the worst, when suddenly they noticed that there was a loud BOOM! They realized that the men outside must be using the battering ram to try and break down the door. They also heard them shout "Kill the beast!"

…

Red Alert quickly rushed up to the west wing and into Lockdown's room "Pardon me, master."

"Leave me in peace." Lockdown said quietly, standing by the table with the rose on it

"But, sir the castle is under attack!"

…

The crowd outside continued to try and ram the door down, they seemed to have started their own chant with themselves and when they rammed the door. BOOM! "Kill the beast!" BOOM! "Kill the beast!"

…...

Everyone inside was trying to use their bodies to block the door in hope it would keep the intruders out. But as the battering ram continued to come in contact with the door, it was getting harder to keep it shut.

"This isn't working!" Jazz exclaimed

"But Jazz, we have to do something!" Arcee stated

"Wait, I have an idea!"

…

The battering ram came in contact with the door once more, starting to make a dent in it while the mechs continuing their chant. BOOM! "Kill the beast!" BOOM! "Kill the beast!"

…

"Master, what should we do!" Red Alert asked

Lockdown continued to look at the wilting rose and answered "It don't matter now…just let them come."

…

"Kill the beast!" BOOM! "Kill the beast!" BOOM! "Kill the beast!" Finally the door gave away and opened up. Sentinel and the rest of his mechs dropped the battering ram and stepped inside. When they looked around, they were a little confused on why there was a bunch of furniture all over the place. They carefully began to walk in; Swindle grabbed a hold onto a black and white candle and was very surprised when he heard it say "Now!"

All a sudden the furniture sprung to life and attacked the townspeople. While everyone else was busy, Sentinel managed to sneak away and head up the stairs.

…

Back at the village, Jena and Wheeljack were putting on the last few finishing touches onto the space bridge.

"Alright, now I just need to type in the coordinates…" Wheeljack quickly put them in "There that should do it."

"You're sure this is going to work?" Jena asked

"There's only one way to find out." Wheeljack then yelled loud enough for Bumblebee to hear "Bumblebee, now!"

In the house, as he heard the command, Bumblebee jumped on the remote control and pressed the blue button.

Jena and Wheeljack watched as they heard a low humming sound coming from the space bridge as it started to warm up. They noticed that sparks of blue energy were starting to form in the middle and sure enough a small ball formed before it got bigger and almost filled the entire space in the middle.

"So now what?" Jena asked

"Well if my hunch is correct all we have to do is step into the transwarp field and we'll be teleported and land right outside the house." Wheeljack explained

Jena looked at the blue ball nervously, they may have gotten it to work, but it still had never been tested. What if they went through it and got transported somewhere else? Or if they did come out and some part of them was missing?

"Jena," The blue and brown femme turned to look at her father "It's gonna be alright. Just trust me."

Jena reluctantly smiled and took a hold of Wheeljack's servo "I do trust you, dad."

They smiled at each other, closed their optics and then stepped into the transwarp field.

Bumblebee waited inside the house wondering if anything had happened yet. So he went outside to check and was disappointed to see they weren't there. Just then there was a bright flash of light that momentarily blinded Bumblebee. When he opened his eyes, he jumped for joy. Jena and Wheeljack were standing a few feet way from him. When Jena and Wheeljack reopened their optics, they quickly checked to see if any part of them as out of place and if they were really outside their home.

Jena gave Wheeljack a hug "Dad, it worked! You did it!"

Wheeljack hugged her back and shook his head "No, Jena. We did it, together."

Jena smiled "Come on, we have to hurry."

Wheeljack nodded and went to go get Starchaser. Jena picked up Bumblebee and climbed onto Starchaser back along with her father. And then they headed towards Lockdown's castle, they could only hope they weren't too late.

…

The battle continued to rage on between the mechs of the village and the talking appliances. Food, drinks, silverware among other things were being thrown and landed on the floor. But eventually they managed to scare all the mechs out of the castle and back out into the rain. They all cheered with happiness that they were all able to defend their home.

…

Back in his room, Lockdown stared outside his window watching the rain, ignoring the sound of someone coming in. Sentinel, carrying his lance stepped into the room and searched until he stopped Lockdown. Lockdown turned slightly to look at him, an uncaring and sad expression on his face before turning away again. Sentinel came up and pushed him right out the window and onto the balcony, letting out an amused laugh. He stepped outside and just as Lockdown tried to stand back up, he kicked him causing the dark mech to fall and land on one of the ledges on the roof with the blue mech following after him.

"Get up," Sentinel ordered

Lockdown just gave him another uncaring expression and remained where he was. Until Sentinel kicked him again causing him to get closer to the end of the ledge "Get up."

Sentinel asked in a mocking tone "What's the matter, beast? Too kind and gentle to fight back?"

Lockdown just looked away from him while Sentinel pulled out his lance again, preparing to strike.

"No!" came a voice

Lockdown lifted his head up and looked down to see a face he thought he never see again "Jena?" He called out weakly

"No, Sentinel, please don't!" Jena yelled over the storm

Just as Sentinel brought down his lance, Lockdown grabbed it with his servo and got back up.

Jena quickly got off Starchaser and rushed inside the castle and went up the stairs.

Lockdown pushed Sentinel back before letting go of the lance. Sentinel tried to slash at him while climbing on the roof, but Lockdown easily dodged it. Sentinel slightly lost his footing and fall, but grabbed the edge of the roof in time, but not before Lockdown lunged at him, forcing them to land on another roof top. They were forced back on a ledge before Sentinel kicked the dark mech off.

He brought his lance up and slashed it at the dark figure that was next to him, but when the lightning flashed, he saw it was only a statue "Come on out and fight!"

Sentinel made his way through a row of statues "Tell me, Lockdown. Were you in love with her?" No response came to him, but he continued talking "Did you really think she wanted you when she had someone like me?"

Lockdown had concealed himself in the shadows only his red optics stood out, but Sentinel didn't seem to notice. Lockdown came out of his hiding and place and slowly crept up behind the blue mech. Sentinel saw him out of the corner of his optic and quickly moved to slash at his head, but Lockdown quickly ducked. They continued to mauerner around the ledge until Lockdown found himself trapped in a corner.

"It's over, Lockdown!" Sentinel cackled "Jena is mine!"

Lockdown shot in a glare and tackled him again, causing Sentinel to drop his lance and fall down. Lockdown grabbed him by the throat and carried him over till he was dangling over the end of the ledge.

Sentinel brought his servos up to grasp his arm while pleading "Let me go. Please, don't hurt me! I'll do anything, anything!"

Lockdown continued to glare at him, tempted to just let him fall. But he stopped, he wasn't a monster anymore. Now he had friends and…Jena. Lockdown slowly brought Sentinel back to the ledge. He brought him close to his face while hissing venomously "Get, out." Before letting Sentinel drop back onto the ledge.

"Lockdown!"

Said mech turned around to see Jena standing on the balcony that lead to his room, he smiled softly "Jena."

Jena reached out for him. Lockdown carefully climbed along the tops of the roof until he got closer "Jena…" She took a hold of his hook while Lockdown's servo cupped the side of her face "You came back." Jena smiled warmly at him and closed her optics to enjoy the moment, but it was cut short as she heard Lockdown cry out in pain. She opened her optics to see that Sentinel had snuck up behind Lockdown and jabbed his lance into his side.

Sentinel pulled his lance back out and prepared to stab him again, but he lost his grip of the railing and quickly tried to regain his balance. Lockdown started to lose his balance as well, but Jena grabbed his cape to prevent him from falling. Sentinel yelled as he slipped and fell down into the dark abyss of the canyon below him.

Jena pulled Lockdown onto the balcony and saw that his side was bleeding pretty badly. Just then Prowl, Jazz and Red Alert came into the room and gasped when they saw their master was wounded. Jena carefully laid Lockdown on his back, gently resting her servo on his face as she heard him breathing in shallow intakes.

Lockdown panted hardly as he managed to gasp out "You came back."

"Of course I came back. I couldn't let…"Jena hugged him carefully "Oh, this is all my fault. If…if only I had gotten here sooner."

"Maybe…its better…it's better this way." Jena lightly placed her servo over his mouth

"Don't talk like that…you'll be alright." Jena smiled a little "We're together now, everything going to be fine. You'll see."

Lockdown looked up at her and reached out to brush her hair out of her face before cupping the side of it "At least…I got to see you." He wheezed "One last time."

Jena held his servo to her face until she noticed it was going limp; she looked to see his optics were half closed. Lockdown let out one final shuddering breath before his optics closed completely and his body went still.

Jena's optics widened and she covered her mouth with her servos, shaking her head "No, no, please…please don't leave me." She grasped the front of his cape and cried softly into his chassis, a tear escaped from her optic before she whispered "I…I love you."

Right at that moment the final petal of the rose wilted and fell onto the table below. The three appliances that were there watched and lowered their heads in sadness. Jena continued to cry, not caring if she got wet; she just wanted to stay there with Lockdown for as long as she could. But then a flash of light caught her optic. Jena lifted her head up to see that streams of light were shooting down all around them.

She watched in awe as the wound on Lockdown's side slowly started to heal before his whole body started to glow. It lasted for a few moments before it died down. She jumped as she heard a breathy groan coming from Lockdown before he reopened his optics.

"Lockdown?" Jena asked in disbelief

Lockdown turned his head back to her and smiled "Jena."

"Lockdown, you're alive!" Jena hugged him as hard as she could

He happily hugged her back, running his fingers through her hair. Jena pulled away to help him back on his pedes. When he got back up, he pulled her close to him and smiled. Jena rested her head on his chassis, overjoyed every time she heard his spark beat. She pulled away and looked up at him. The two of them simultaneously leaned forward before giving each other a passionate kiss.

As they kissed, a swirl of blue energy circled them before shooting up into the sky. The rain came to a stop and cleared. The castle changed from its terrifying appearance back to its old form. And when they pulled apart they noticed that three figures came out onto the balcony.

The first was a black and white mech with a blue visor over his optics, then a black and gold mech who also had a visor and then followed by a red and white femme. Lockdown walked up to them and smiled "Jazz, Prowl, Red Alert, you're all back to normal!" Just then another pair of figures joined them on the balcony, a pink and white femme, an orange and purple femme and a small yellow and black mech. "Arcee, Strika, Bumblebee, you guys are back to normal too!"

"It's a miracle!" Jazz exclaimed

Lockdown happily picked up Jena and spun her around.

…

The next day, Lockdown threw a giant party at his castle and everyone in the village was invited. Everyone had a great time, some investors came and asked Wheeljack if he would be interested in coming with them and in return they would help him build more space bridges. He was hesitant, saying he wasn't sure if he could leave Jena, but she encouraged that she would be fine and Lockdown promised him that he would take good car of Jena.

Finally when the party was over and all Lockdown's servants retired to their rooms, Lockdown and Jena went her room and stood out on the balcony. As they gazed up at the stars, Jena decided to break the silence "Lockdown?"

He turned to her "Yeah?"

Jena fiddled with her hair and bit her lip nervously "Do have you…ever regret letting me stay at your castle?"

Lockdown stared at her in shock, surprised that she would ask something like that. But he smiled while reaching out to stroke her face "Never."

Jena smiles and gives him a kiss on the cheek "Thank you…for everything."

"No, I should be thanking you…you saved from myself." Lockdown checked his internal clock "I guess its time for bed."

Lockdown turned to leave the room, but he felt Jena tug on his arm "Lockdown, could you…stay with me tonight, please?"

Lockdown was unsure about this, but upon seeing her pleading optics, he just couldn't say no "Sure."

Jena smiled happily at his answer before leading him to the berth. They both climbed in and pulled up the covers. Jena snuggled into his chassis while Lockdown put his arm around her. They kissed and said their good nights to each other one last time before the two to them drifted off into a blissful sleep, knowing that as long as they had each other they would forever be happy.


End file.
